Eileen Hession took the top honor in the 2013 poetry contest for her topical "Impatiens Replacements." She gardens outside her home in Long Beach. (May 31, 2013) Photo Credit: Yana Paskova

Jessica Damiano is a master gardener and journalist with more than 25 years experience in radio, television, print and online media.
She has worked on Newsday's interactive endeavors since 1994, and currently is Deputy Editor overseeing Newsday.com's Lifestyle and Entertainment coverage.
Jessica enjoys toiling in her garden -- a never-finished work in progress -- and helping local gardeners solve their horticultural problems in her Garden Detective column, which appears every Sunday in Newsday.
Her Garden Detective column and blog have been awarded Press Club of Long Island Society of Professional Journalists Awards.
Jessica lives in Glen Head, NY, with her husband John, daughters Justine and Julia, dogs Maddie and Miguel, and a whole bunch of perennials, vegetable plants and weeds.
Ask a questionShow More

Last month I asked readers to let their creative writing juices flow. The instructions were simple: Send in an original poem of exactly seven lines that embraces seven things about your garden.

I was awestruck by how many local gardeners answered my call, and equally impressed by how much heart and soul was put into each of the beautiful works I received that embodied this year's contest theme: Lucky Seven. Some entries were amusing, others sentimental, and all a pleasure to read. Picking the winners wasn't easy (I spent Memorial Day weekend hemming and hawing), as every submission was deserving of an honor.

Eileen Melia Hession rose to the top of the heap with her lament, "Impatiens Replacements." Sanford H. Weinberg takes second place for "Ode to Nature's Flowers." And in third place we have Rosalie Silverman for her ode "Seven Months." Everyone else gets a well-deserved Garden Detective high-five! Well played, readers!